


He Knew What He Had to Do

by Saoirse7



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Ben Solo Needs A Hug, Chewie and Ben reconciliation, F/M, Finally, Light Angst, and also still maybe a therapist, dyad working together, going to kick First Order butt, with a few kisses along the way
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-15
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:41:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 14,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23667802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saoirse7/pseuds/Saoirse7
Summary: Ben Solo knew what he had to do. And he knew he had the strength to do it. A fix-it fic with a little adventure on the side, because you can't have too many fixes for Rise of Skywalker.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo
Comments: 49
Kudos: 103





	1. Chapter 1

He knew what he had to do. And he knew he had the strength to do it.

Inch by inch, he worked his way up the side of the crevice. He could hear the lightning raging above him, and he felt anger rising as he remembered how easily the Emperor had flicked him away. He should be up there, fighting with Rey! Instead, he was trapped here. No, Rey needed Ben, not Kylo. With a deep breath, he channeled his anger into energy, fueling him to reach the top. He also made a mental note to learn how to escape the Force Paralyze move Palpatine had used on him twice now. When he’d used it on others he had never realized how irritating it was.

Trembling fingers gripped the sharp platform at last, and he pulled himself up to find Rey, lightsabers crossed but losing ground quickly as the Emperor shot streams of lightning her way. She was barely able to contain the dark energy with the lightsabers, and if she hit the edge…

He came up behind her and felt their strength mingling together the closer he got, even as he sensed her struggle. In one swift motion, he wrapped his hand around hers and Luke’s lightsaber hilt. She seemed to notice an immediate difference as the strain faded and power replaced it. With a quick nod, she released the hilt entirely and let him take it, but never pulling the sabers apart.

Together, they advanced.

Step after step they gained, pushing back, the strength of the dyad flowing through and around them. Too late, the Emperor realized what was happening, the error of bringing them together, the doomed fate of everything he had schemed for and the weight of his arrogance.

Too late, as his lightning backfired once more in his face.

The force of the explosion as the once-powerful Emperor disintegrated blew both of them off their feet, and the last thing Ben saw before frightening darkness was Rey, separated again, chunks of rock crashing down around her.

He came to slowly, ears ringing. Struggling to sit up, he found every move excruciating and an alarming pressure on his right leg. But he had only one thought on his mind. Rey. He had to find Rey. He could worry about his own injuries later.

It took all of his focus to raise the eerie statue shard from his leg, and he was beginning to think he should be concerned.

No, he had taken worse blows than this, he would be fine. Wasn’t he always?

He spotted the figure in white across the room and half ran, half dragged himself over to her, only to find lifeless eyes staring into nothingness.

Ben grit his teeth against the pain and cradled Rey’s motionless body in his lap. How did this happen? There was only one way she could make it out of this. He was the only one who could save her now. He knew what it would do to him, but he was ready. It was all worth it if she lived, his Rey of light.

With deep breaths, he focused his mind on the life force between them and remembered how the Force healing felt, mending his own body not long before. He sensed her injuries and willed the same positive energy into her, feeling her life flow, even as his own life ebbed. He didn’t deserve to live, after all he had done. All the lives he had taken.

Maybe this one life he gave back would be enough.

She stirred in his arms and he opened his eyes to find her smiling at him (her smile was directed at him! at him!) as she struggled to sit up.

“Ben…” she whispered, and kissed him.

He savored the feel of her in his arms, of her lips on his, of how her hands cupped his face, and for a moment, just that last, stolen moment, he felt true happiness, and smiled back.

Then the final shred of life he had been clinging to flickered and died out.

—

Rey was so thrilled to see Ben there, with her, she didn’t realize what it meant until it was nearly too late.

She had sensed no conflict in him, only peace, so she thought that they could now be together, work together to fight the darkness.

Then he collapsed.

“No…” came out before she could help it, and she knew at that moment he had given his life to bring her back.

“No,” she repeated, a look of determination quickly replacing shock. “You will not die, Ben Solo.” They were a dyad, weren’t they? Isn’t that what he had said? Two that are one? They could share this life force; it didn’t need to only be hers.

For the second time that day, Rey Palpatine channeled her strength into pure light energy, allowing the life force transfer to flow into this man. She felt the strain, felt it draining her, but she pushed through. Neither of them would die today. Their bond would strengthen them. All the dark Force power Palpatine wanted her to use to become the Empress she now focused into light, and strength, and _life_. If she had the Emperor’s power, she was going to use it for what she wanted.

And right now, Rey felt that she would move planet and space to see Ben Solo smile again.

She heard a sharp intake of breath and looked down to see his eyes flutter as he groaned.

“Ow.”

He looked around, confused and disoriented, then he saw her, beaming, blinking away tears, and managed a small, hesitant smile.

“And I thought I was here to rescue you.”

Rey gave a shuddering laugh and helped him sit up. The life was weak in both of them but it was very much there. It was _alive_. They were alive.

A crash thundering around them reminded her where they were and why. And that they wouldn’t be alive much longer if they didn’t get out of there. With Palpatine dead and the Star Destroyers crumbling, Exegol was collapsing.

Ben looked up at the noise. “We need to leave.”

“Are you strong enough to walk?”

He smirked. “Are you?”

Together, they shakily rose to their feet, supporting one another. “I think we can make it,” she grunted, he was heavier than he looked, “between the two of us.” She saw the concern in his eyes and he moved to pick her up, but she stopped him. “Don’t waste your strength trying to be a hero.” She swayed slightly but steadied herself. “I won’t be able to bring you back again.”

The rebuke stung a little, he wasn’t a hero, not really, but he pushed it aside and agreed. How had she brought him back, without dying herself? She was stronger than she knew, than either of them knew, he realized.

It was a slow journey. They both had to pause to catch their breath multiple times, and one time she would have been crushed if he hadn’t pulled her out of the way of the debris, nearly toppling them both. But Rey wouldn’t have it any other way. All the anger and violence she had felt towards him had faded, and she realized it was because of the Balance. Their Light and Dark was exactly where it needed to be.

They made it to where their X-wing and TIE fighter stood, side by side, just as another piece of Destroyer smashed into the ground, nearly knocking them off their feet. If they didn’t leave soon, they would be buried under the rubble falling around them.

“We can take the X-wing, follow the Resistance back,” Rey hurried towards the ship, but Ben didn’t move. “What are you doing? We need to go now!”

“I can’t come with you, Rey. I can’t go back.”

“They will accept you when they know you, Ben.”

“As you have?” She nodded, hopeful, but he gazed at her sadly. “No, they won’t. I have another path now.”

“But I— after all that—”

He took two steps forward to meet her and grasped her arm. “We still stand together, Rey. I know you need to go with them. But when you have done what you need to do…you will find me?” She hesitated, unwilling to let him go. “Please?”

She saw the tears in his eyes and remembered the same look in the throne room after he killed Snoke, but this was different, so much different. Finally, she nodded, and gave a small smile.

He grinned, and leaned down to kiss her again. Not a kiss of goodbye, but one of new beginnings, and of hope.

Then he stumbled to the TIE fighter, not sure where he was going to start, but he knew what he had to do. And he knew he had the strength to do it.


	2. Chapter 2

Rey stared at the twin suns setting on the Tatooine horizon and smiled as she remembered her recent conversation with the older woman. Rey Skywalker, indeed. She chose her own destiny, it wouldn’t be decided for her by what anyone else said she should do. This was hers and hers alone.

Suddenly, she sensed the presence behind her. She turned and saw Ben, lounging on a chair in the middle of nowhere, his feet propped on a table in front of him that faded into nothingness.

He glanced up and the edge of his mouth quirked into a grin. “It’s been a while.”

“You look comfortable.”

He shrugged and traced a finger behind him, presumably where the wall was. “I’m getting by.”

She noticed there were still cuts and bruises on his face and arms and this surprised her. It had been months since they had parted on Exegol, he should have been on the mend by now. “What happened?”

“What happened with what?”

“You look like you’ve been in a fight.”

Another half-smile. “You would know.”

Her mouth flattened into a line of disapproval and he laughed.

“Just a small skirmish. Nothing I couldn’t handle. There were a few men who didn’t agree with my new mission.”

New mission? “What have you—?” She stopped, unsure.

His eyes darkened a little and he straightened in the chair. The table disappeared completely as he put his feet back on the ground. “What have I what?”

 _What have you gotten yourself into now_ , she thought but didn’t say it. “What do you mean, new mission?”

He noticed the change in words but didn’t comment. She heard a muffled explosion, and he glanced quickly in that direction, then back to her. “What I need to do,” he said shortly, and vanished as the connection broke.

Rey frowned. It sounded like he was getting himself into more trouble, hopefully not of the “serving another master” variety that he tended to collect. Well, if he wouldn’t tell her what was going on, she supposed it was up to her to find out. Strolling back into the _Falcon_ , she patched in to the Resistance to run a news report of any unusual explosions, especially involving the First Order.

“Anything in particular you need this for?”

“Checking the status of the galaxy?” Her answer sounded unconvincing, even to her, and the silence on the other end told her it sounded unconvincing to the Resistance scout too. “Alright, I need it to find a friend, part of the outlying Rebellion.”

“Doing recruiting?”

“Yes, exactly. Recruiting.”

“Good for you, Rey. We need the help.” There was a pause as he checked the reports. “I see there have been quite a few. Want me to send it on?”

“Would you? And a map?”

Fifteen First Order bases had been reported destroyed in the last five months, most of which were scattered all throughout the galaxy. There was a pattern to a few, though. A jagged line traced its way through the Core systems, going from planet to planet.

“Tell me about those,” she pointed.

He had been the one chasing her all this time, it was strange to actually be looking for him. But if she read these reports correctly, his next mark was sure to be just eastward of the Core. It made sense, actually. Coming from Exegol and so close to where Starkiller Base was, the Core systems were a prime target. She could get there in a day, at most, ask around. Based on how he had appeared in their bond, he wasn’t going in a disguise or anything. While a mask of some sort might have worked in his favor, at the moment, no disguise was definitely helpful to her. If she didn’t find him there, she would planet hop until she did.

It was another week before she was ready to go, the _Falcon_ stocked, Chewie along for the ride. He didn’t know yet that she was planning on going to find Ben; if it became a problem, she may need to find a different ship.

She was just finishing up a training session with her new saber when the bond linked again. She hadn’t expected it to be so soon.

This time, when he turned to face her, his expression softened but he didn’t smile.

“Tell me what you’re doing, I can help.” She saw fatigue in his stance, bags under his eyes. He was going to get himself killed, doing this alone. If she asked him a direct question, she had to believe he would be honest with her.

“This is for me to do, Rey. I caused this. I can fix it.”

“You caused what? The First Order?” He didn’t respond but she saw the jerk in his jaw that told her she was right, she had been right about all of it. “Is that what you’re trying to do? To atone for past mistakes?”

He refused to meet her gaze.

“We can get rid of the First Order together, Ben. We’re stronger together, don’t forget that.”

The comment elicited a small smile and he finally looked up. “I could never forget.”

“Then let me help you. Tell me where you are.” She wanted him to confirm it before she entered the coordinates and made the jump to lightspeed. And if he told her specifically, it would save a lot of otherwise wasted time.

A myriad of emotions played across his face: guilt, fear, determination, defiance, defeat. No, not defeat. Acceptance. Surrender.

“Corellia. There are still First Order shipyards here, and the troops don’t like an idiot with a blaster coming in to blow everything up. Plus, it was Dad’s home planet. I thought…” He trailed off, but she understood.

The part that stuck out to her, though, was _blaster_. “No lightsaber?”

He shrugged. “Haven’t had the time to make another.”

That explained the messy work, and why there hadn’t been any reports from his streak in a while. “You’re crazy. It’s no wonder you’re exhausted,” she mumbled, and saw a real smile for a fleeting moment.

“Bring me one?” His expression was light, almost playful, but she couldn’t miss the undertone. _Please come, Rey._ He needed backup. Bad.

She nodded and smiled to hide her concern. “Chewie and I are on our way.”

A second later, she regretted mentioning the Wookiee as Ben’s eyes clouded with fear and his hand moved instinctively to his side. “Chewie?”

But she had no time to explain or reassure him as the connection severed. He was just going to have to trust her.


	3. Chapter 3

She had come to Tatooine to bury Luke and Leia’s sabers by Luke’s childhood home, but it just hadn’t felt right, and now she was glad she kept them.

Trying to convince Chewie that they were going to go save the man who had killed his friend and his own father, on the other hand, took longer than she had expected. In the end, he wasn’t happy about it but agreed for her sake. She had hoped he would be more understanding, since Ben was now working on being reformed and not Kylo Ren any longer. But apparently, Wookiees can hold grudges too.

Besides, Ben Solo had rebelled against the Dark that had caged him for so many years, but there was still a long way to go.

They arrived on Corellia by nightfall, and Rey realized with a dizzying feeling that she had no idea where to find him or even where to begin looking. He had mentioned shipyards, so presumably he would be near those?

Chewie suggested the local cantina; it was as good a place as any to start.

No one paid any mind when they walked in, which was nice. Rey hadn’t noticed how much she missed the anonymity, being able to go wherever she pleased without people recognizing her or hailing her as a war hero. She had wanted somewhere to belong, but she was definitely not prepared for nearly legend status. Now she knew why Luke had been so difficult to find.

A quick sweep told her Ben wasn’t there, but she smiled to herself as she recognized the tables. He had been there before, at least once a week ago. While the bartender might know him, she didn’t want to draw undue attention if he was lying low, and they didn’t know who to trust. They left quickly before they garnered some of that unwanted attention themselves.

Once back in the open air, Rey reached out in the Force, trying to sense him. Nothing. Wait, there was something, just a tiny pull to the…she opened her eyes, glanced around. East. Definitely east.

“This way.”

Chewie’s response was skeptical.

“Just a feeling. Come on.”

They had barely gone the length of an industrial block when a cloaked figure appeared out of an alleyway, jogging towards them. “With me,” the man said breathlessly, and started off again.

“Ben?” she whispered when they paused a moment, and the figure nodded and pushed back his hood to reveal a mop of black hair.

“It’s harder now to—”

But he had barely begun speaking when Chewbacca shouldered her aside and shoved him against the wall, one strong arm across Ben’s throat. Seeing his face again reminded the Wookiee of that terrible night and the last time he’d seen his best friend.

“Chewie, no!” Rey tried to intervene, but Ben waved her away impatiently.

“I know,” Ben wheezed in response to the Wookiee’s angry growls. “I—” he coughed, dark spots were beginning to dance on the edges of his vision, “I’m sor—ry!”

Chewie pushed him a little higher.

“Please!”

Whether it was that whispered word, the terror in Ben’s eyes, or Chewie accepting his frantic apology, the Wookiee let go, and Ben dropped to the ground, coughing and rubbing his neck.

“I really am sorry,” he managed weakly. “But we can’t do this now. We have to—”

“Halt! Who goes there?” The voice came from too close, but whoever it was hadn’t seen them yet.

“We have to go,” he choked out, and stumbled into a jog once more.

She didn’t know how long they followed him, up one alley and down another, pausing, listening, waiting for the tramp, tramp of Stormtroopers to die away, only to duck through another archway down another dark alley. She noticed the tension in his shoulders, the way he was poised with a blaster, ready for a fight. What had he been through already?

Finally, he stopped by a small apartment, checked to make sure the coast was clear, and hurried them inside. And if his hand lingered on her waist a moment longer than was strictly necessary as he ushered her in, well, Rey didn’t think she minded so much.

“This is a new look for you,” she said as soon as the door swished shut behind them.

He glanced down at his simple black top, rolled to the elbows, and dark pants. “I don’t—”

“No, the sneaking around, hiding and waiting,” she said quickly, though she couldn’t restrain a smile at his misunderstanding.

“Ah.” He shrugged. “I learned a few things from Dad.”

Chewie made a noise at that, and Ben shot him a look but refused to hold his gaze, seemingly unwilling to confront the Wookiee right away.

He dropped the blaster onto a nearby table and turned to face them, his stance guarded. “You came. Thank you.”

“Of course, I didn’t want you—”

She was interrupted by a series of grunts and growls from Chewbacca as he took a few steps forward. He wasn’t taking any of this brushing off nonsense. He was here, and Ben Solo was here, and Ben was going to hear what he had to say.

Ben backed away, wary of a repeat choking incident, but Chewie seemed to have decided to do his damage verbally. For now. The man winced at the tirade. “I understand. You have every right, after what I’ve done.”

A growl and two snarls.

Ben said nothing, eyes trained on the floor, jaw tight.

At no response, Chewie let out a rant and some of it wasn’t very nice. Rey had to admit the Wookiee made a few good points, but she wasn’t going to say that now. This was between them alone.

The man shook his head. “You’re right. Chewie… I… I’m so sorry. I know that doesn’t fix what I’ve done, but… There’s not a day goes by that I don’t…regret…” he managed after a long pause. Saying these words clearly took an effort from him. “I’m sorry for everything. And I miss him too,” he ended in a whisper.

Silence stretched as the seconds became minutes. Both of them stared at each other, Ben in remorse, Chewbacca in anger and disappointment.

Finally, Chewie murmured a reluctant acceptance. He understood that Ben was trying, and he would help them. But that didn’t mean he had to like it.

“Thank you. We could use your fighting skills,” Ben rubbed his waist, almost subconsciously, “and your bowcaster.”

“What’s your plan?” Rey rejoined the conversation now that she could feel some of the tension lifting from the room. “Where do we start?”

—

“So then you’ll come in this way and disable their surveillance systems,” Ben traced a line on his roughly-drawn map. “Chewie, you try to find their weapons room. It should be somewhere in this area,” he drew a circle with his finger, “but I can’t be sure. Once you find them, meet us back here.”

They were knee-deep planning their assault on the shipyard base when a blinking light at the edge of her peripheral vision caught Rey’s attention. It was her comlink, indicating an incoming call, probably from the Resistance. To be honest, probably from Finn. Definitely Finn, she now saw as it blinked with his code. With a sigh, she accepted the transmission. “Finn? How are you?”

“Rey! Where are you? You were supposed to be back a week ago. And you’ve turned off your tracker. What happened?”

At the sound, Ben broke off what he was saying and looked up at her, interested.

“I…” How could she explain what she was doing?

 _Yes, Rey, where are you?_ Ben mouthed, his smirk sarcastic.

She gave him a look that said _don’t you dare_. “I wanted to go exploring. You don’t need to know everywhere I go, do you?”

“What if you get hurt? We won’t be able to find you. You’ll be alone!”

“I’m not alone,” she replied quickly, smiling at Ben. “Chewie is with me.”

Ben’s eyebrows rose. _So that’s how it’s going to be._

“We need you back here. We could use the extra pilot, fighter…Jedi.”

She made a half-turn towards Ben with one hand on her hip and the other holding the comlink, nodding towards the communicator as if to say, _that’s you, too_. 

His expression shadowed and he shifted back, shaking his head ever so slightly.

“Rey? Are you still there?”

“I’m here. And you can manage without me for a little while. I’ll be back.” She narrowed her eyes at the reforming Force-user in front of her. “Maybe I’ll bring friends.”

Ben sucked in a sharp breath. “Rey, no…” he muttered.

“What?”

“Bye, Finn!”

“Wait—”

But she had clicked the comlink off. “You said we’re meeting here?” she tapped the map.

The man’s jaw tightened but he said nothing, only taking a moment to re-gather his thoughts before he continued with the outlines of their plan.

Afterwards, he pulled her aside. The apartment was tiny and there wasn’t far they could go to get away from the Wookiee, but Chewbacca seemed to understand they needed space and busied himself with cleaning his blaster, or at least pretending to.

“Are you only here to bring me back?”

She paused, needing to consider how she approached this. Say the wrong thing, it might spook him, and she didn’t want to lose him again.

“You’re doing Resistance work but you aren’t part of the Resistance.”

“I’m doing the right thing. Or I’m trying to.” He rubbed a hand across his face in frustration. “Is that why you’re here?”

“I’m here because I want to be with you. I want you to know you’re not alone.”

He stared at her with that intensity she had come to associate with him, his expression unreadable, his eyes darting between hers.

She thought he was going to kiss her. Worse, she wanted him to.

A sudden crash came from the kitchen, startling them, and the moment was gone. He took a deep breath, his eyes still fixed on hers. Then he rushed to find what shattered, leaving her there, back against the wall.


	4. Chapter 4

“Have you thought about going in there as Supreme Leader?”

The look Ben shot her was a mixture of surprise and disgust.

“I’m just giving ideas.”

“I considered it. But I left my cape on Kef Bir.” He said this second part so matter-of-factly she almost missed the implication. “Besides,” he glanced around the corner and nodded before they continued on their stealthy trek through the city, “I’m sure everyone knows my face now. And that I’m a traitor.”

“You aren’t a traitor,” Rey said immediately, at the same time Chewie did.

Ben ignored them, but she decided not to take it personally. After all, they did have a busy day planned. He was probably just distracted.

They continued to wind around the city by back ways, going single file in silence, until at last they arrived at their destination: the main Corellian First Order base. Trying not to think about how crazy this plan was, especially if it worked, they paused a stone’s throw from the big, double-doored gate, carefully guarded. They could hear the chatter of dozens of Stormtroopers milling about behind those doors.

“You both remember the plan?” Two affirmative nods. “Great.” Ben smirked. “I’ll see you on the other side.”

He sauntered towards the gate, where two Stormtroopers waited, casually chatting as they stood guard. A few moments later, she and Chewie hurried off to the side.

“Afternoon. Mind if I come in?”

“Hey, you look like Kylo Ren!”

“Yeah, I get that a lot.” Ben carefully unholstered his blaster, not making any sudden moves. “Does that mean I can come in?”

“Kylo Ren is a known traitor to the First Order. We have orders to shoot on sight.”

Ben sighed. “I was afraid you’d say that.” Two quick shots from the blaster, and they were both on the ground. Another well-placed shot, and the electronic control panel popped open, smoking. With a spark, he adeptly hotwired the door mechanism, and the gate slid open just enough for him to slip through.

Meanwhile, Rey and Chewie were slinking along the outer wall of the base, searching for their way in.

“Here!”

Chewie tore the vent off its hinges and warned her to be careful. She was the only one small enough to fit in the shaft, so she was the lucky one to start the stealth portion of their attack. With a quick refresher glance at the map Ben had drawn from his scouting this base and knowledge of First Order layout in general, she crept towards her destination.

After seeing Rey make it in, the Wookiee kept along the outer wall until he found a side entrance, this one not as thickly guarded. A shot from the bowcaster sent the trooper flying and the door came off as easily as the vent.

“Hey, who—”

But the soldier never had the chance to finish as he too took a direct shot from the bowcaster. Sneaking around had never been Chewie’s forte, but he knew it was better for the other two if he stayed quiet. Well, quiet enough. Those troopers and the next several he encountered certainly wouldn’t say anything.

Rey was also trying to be quiet, with mild to moderate success, but she hadn’t considered how loudly the vents would echo with her every move. If she wanted her trip to take a year, she supposed she could slip in silently, but they didn’t have that kind of time. She needed to find the surveillance room before Ben was overrun.

Personally, she thought going in through the front door was a terrible idea, and had said so, but Ben-Drama-Queen Solo was his father’s son, in every awful sense of the term.

“I don’t know, they said it was mandatory.”

Rey froze at the sound of voices below her.

“They always say that, don’t they? Ridiculous. Anyway, have you seen TK-7324 lately? I thought he was supposed to be here.”

Maybe if she moved slowly enough, they wouldn’t hear her, but she could still make progress. She was so close.

“No, he was reassigned a week early. Shipped him off world. Lucky bloke.”

It was just another turn and then she would be over her target.

“Wait, did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“Something in the vents. It sounds like something is climbing around in there.”

“You don’t think rats got in there again, do you?”

“Only one way to find out. Here, help me get this open.”

No! She couldn’t be captured now. On pure instinct, she waved a hand and sensed something shift and give way several meters down the corridor.

“Down there! I heard it. It must have bolted when it heard you.”

She let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding as the voices moved away. And with a quick, decisive motion, she cut open her entrance to the surveillance room and dropped inside.

_Rey might have been right_ , Ben thought wryly as he twirled his lightsaber to block another volley of blaster fire. Going in the main gate pulled the attention away from her and Chewbacca, but it wasn’t doing him any favors. More and more troopers poured in as the sounds of the battle announced his arrival. He had started with the blaster but soon found that was only doing so much damage. By now, he was using one of the sabers Rey had brought, keeping his other hand free to use the Force as his ally.

He swung the saber in a wide arc, slicing the closest troopers. With the momentary reprieve, he shuffled forward in offense: Cut, slice, stab. Block, parry, attack. He spun around, the lightsaber constantly moving, ready to protect himself on all sides.

At the next round of blaster fire, he threw the bolts back towards the soldiers and Force shoved a couple of the troopers against the wall. He slid a few feet to thrust the blade through one of the Captains even as two more came into the room.

“The great Kylo Ren,” one of the Captains sneered. “Now devolved into Rebel scum.”

“That’s me,” Ben quipped, breathing hard.

Each Captain snapped out a Z6 riot baton, a nasty piece of work. The plasma crackled and Ben groaned internally.

“And I thought I was doing well,” the man muttered. More Stormtroopers arrived and stood on the outer edge as the Captains circled him.

Then, without further preamble, they attacked.

The Stormtroopers guarding the surveillance monitors were unprepared for an assault from the ceiling, and Rey had dispatched them before they knew what happened.

“Alright, now which lever disables…” A flurry of activity on one of the monitors caught her eye, and she gazed transfixed as a single figure in black spun through a sea of white. His fighting style was amazing to behold; he made everything look so easy. He was doing alright now, but it wouldn’t take much for that battle to turn ugly. Even as she watched, Stormtroopers were flocking to his central location.

Then she saw two Captains appear, angry and menacing, and each one had a weapon that she quickly saw his lightsaber did little damage against. Fun was over.

Frantically, she pushed every button and lever she could find until the screens went dead, cut the power lines with her saber for good measure, then grabbed an extra blaster from the troopers she’d hit earlier and ran towards the base center where she had last seen him. _Not where we’re supposed to meet_ , she thought grimly, _but I guess it’s time to improvise_. 

The blaster fire ricocheted around the corridor as Chewbacca cut a swath through a platoon of Stormtroopers. He had been heading towards the weapons room and turned a corner to find a dozen troopers there. So much for going quietly. They were just as surprised to see him, but thankfully whatever Rey had done in the surveillance room had also knocked out their communications. It was just him and them, and they knew it. Lucky for them, their helmets obscured the fear in their eyes.

As expected, a fight had ensued.

Chewie fired off two quick shots and the last of the guards dropped to the ground. He stepped around them and glanced behind with a decisive nod at the trail of bodies. They wouldn’t bother him anymore. The weapons room was pretty close to where Ben had said, and he was impressed in spite of himself. The kid wasn’t too bad at this.

He picked up handfuls of small charges and started stuffing them into his satchel. A shiny handheld plasma cannon caught his eye and he grabbed that too, inspected it, and slung it over his shoulder.

Satisfied with his take, he started off towards the rendezvous point.

It took him only a few moments to get there, the hallways surprisingly empty, and it took even less time to realize that Rey and Ben hadn’t made it yet. Well, he could start without them, he supposed.

With the bag full of bombs and a weapon on each shoulder, he headed down to the workshop, following the noise of construction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the response so far! Every comment or kudos makes my day!


	5. Chapter 5

Rey burst into the open room to find Ben with both lightsabers now, blocking and retreating as the Captains advanced. The circle of Stormtroopers tightened as the fight continued. He wasn’t making any headway against the Captains’ weapons, and was starting to show the strain of the battle.

With a yell, her saber flashed to cut a pathway through the troopers. She then swung the saber at the closest Captain, who spun to block her attack.

“You’ve got help,” he snarled at Ben, irritation evident in his tone. If he’d thought this would be a quick finish, he hadn’t dealt with her yet.

Ben pivoted so the two of them were back-to-back, the Captains on the outside with their backs to the Stormtroopers. She felt their strength mingling together again, energizing both of them.

Thrust. Parry. Attack. Block. Block. Attack. Block.

Try as she might, there was no rhythm she could find and slip into, every moment she was fighting for her life. The Captains were aggressive, swinging their batons in wide arcs that would have knocked her to the ground if they landed anywhere but on her glowing blade.

Ben had deactivated the other saber by now, finding the dual wielding difficult in its unfamiliarity. He made a mental note to practice with two blades, later. If they survived. Like Rey, he was also forced to fight defensively against the Captain’s driving style.

With a guttural growl, the Captain facing off against Rey swung his baton down sharply, ready to bash in her head. Rey blocked the blow, drawing on Ben’s strength to keep the sparking plasma blade at bay. Then, with lightsaber and baton locked together, she threw her other hand behind her and _pushed_. A yell and clatter of armor told her she’d hit her mark; the Captain that Ben was fighting a moment ago had hit the wall hard from her Force move.

The moment of breathing room gave Ben the chance they’d needed; in a single, fluid motion he spun and cut down the Captain still in front of her with a powerful stroke. He crumpled to the ground and moved no more. Seeing one leader dead and the other stunned from the Force push, several Stormtroopers shuffled closer. But now that they weren’t concerned about hitting their superior officer, they opened fire on the pair.

Chaos broke out, blaster bolts flying from all directions. As one, Rey and Ben nodded and turned back-to-back again, parrying the blaster fire and directing most of the bolts back the way they came.

“This should help,” Rey said, breathless from the fight, and sent her lightsaber soaring through the crowd like a boomerang, at the same time she reached behind her and lifted the second blue saber from Ben’s belt.

“Neat trick,” he grunted as he Force shoved three troopers back.

She twirled the blue saber to ward off more incoming fire and caught her gold saber with the other hand.

The spinning blade had done the job, as a large portion of their enemy collapsed, leaving only a handful of troopers remaining.

A prickle of unease ran down her spine, but she barely had time to react before the searing heat of a blaster bolt tore through her hip. She gasped in pain and stumbled, seeing the source out of the corner of her eye: the second Captain, no longer unconscious, and angrier than ever.

She raised a blade to block his baton attack, but the attack never fell. Ben had sensed her pain and stepped between them, his lightsaber stopping the baton and shoving the Captain backwards. No longer defensive, he showered blow after blow on the trooper, forcing him to retreat. She couldn’t see Ben’s face, but she could feel ripples of anger and protective vengeance coming from him in waves.

At the same time, she couldn’t stop him, not when there were still Stormtroopers to deal with. She wheeled back around in time to block the next volley of blaster fire, directing a few shots to finish two troopers and advancing on the final three, both blades glowing. Blocking and swinging, she made short work of them.

She turned back to find that Ben had cornered the Captain, their weapons crossed. With a decisive move, Ben knocked the weapon out of his hand and plunged his saber through the trooper’s abdomen.

Rage blinded him, and he twisted the saber in spite, relishing the man’s involuntary gasp of pain. He would _pay_ for the injury he had inflicted.

“There’s the Kylo Ren I know,” the Captain ground out. “Long live the Supreme—”

His speech was abruptly cut short as a gold saber flashed in front of him to deal a finishing blow. Rey placed herself between Ben and the fallen Captain, her hand on Ben’s chest. He looked down, dazed, realizing how quickly he had let the Dark Side control his actions again. It frightened him.

“I’m okay, Ben,” she was saying. She surveyed the room and the carnage they had caused. “Well, that was messier than expected.”

“Your wound,” he managed, the horrible moment on replay in his mind.

“It’s nothing,” she waved off his concern, and in the silence that followed, a persistent beep slowly worked its way to the front of their attention.

“What is that?” she asked at the same time he blurted, “Your comlink!”

Sure enough, her communicator was blinking frantically as Chewie was trying to get in touch. They’d missed the rendezvous and he needed to know if the plan was still the same.

Chewbacca had been sending message after message, trying to reach Rey. He’d made it to the workshop, only had to get rid of a few troopers, and proceeded to lay the explosives around the key structural points like they’d discussed. All the while, he was waiting to hear from her that they’d completed their portion of the base assault and would be joining him.

There was still no word by the time he’d finished with the explosives, and he was all set to blow the place sky high. He tried once more to make contact; this time—success! Were they ready for him to ignite the charges? Were they clear?

Rey responded, but the line was filled with static, the audio choppy, and he could only catch every other word. Still, he was certain he heard an affirmative. The plan might have gone awry, but they at least were clear and ready for him.

He set the timer and made a dash for the exit.

Rey and Ben stared at the comlink in her hand, part of it smoking and a top corner completely gone.

“Did he say bombs?” Ben asked.


	6. Chapter 6

A roaring explosion tore through the base, the floor splintering and yawning open as support pillars crashed down, throwing cement blocks to the ground around them.

“I think he said bombs!” Rey shouted over the din. “This way!”

They shielded their eyes from the fire and smoke as they stumbled down a corridor. Overhead, Rey could hear the steel support beams groaning and hoped they would hold long enough for them to get through to the exit, which was…that way. She thought.

He was trying to guide her down another, less smoky corridor, but every instinct told her it was the wrong direction.

“No, the exit is that way!” she pointed as she coughed.

“I don’t think so. It was on the north side.”

“That is north! Just trust me!”

He gave her a look but reluctantly continued down the corridor as requested.

The steel beams did not hold.

With a horrible noise, the beams collapsed in a heap of rubble and flame, sending a fireball their way that knocked them backwards off their feet.

“In here,” Ben rasped, smoke distorting his voice, and the two of them crawled into a nearby room. He shut the door behind them. “Conference room, by the look of it. The doors should be reinforced against blaster fire, at least. I don’t know about this type of explosion.”

“That’s all good and well until the ceiling caves in,” Rey muttered. She shifted so her back was against the wall and winced. The blaster injury wasn’t exactly nothing, as she’d told Ben, but she’d faced worse.

He noticed her expression and guessed its cause. “I wish you’d let me heal that.”

“And drain yourself in the process? No, thank you.”

Ben bit back the retort that rose in his mind. She had every right to be upset, it was his decisions that brought her here, his mistakes that got her injured, and now they were trapped inside an inferno.

Smoke started to drift in around the cracks in the door and through the vents. This wouldn’t be a safe place for long.

“The ceiling,” he heard Rey whisper behind him, and glanced up, searching for cracks or fire. It still seemed structurally sound, and he looked at her in confusion.

“What about it?”

“We could get out through the ceiling!” She stood, eyes alight with the possibility.

“What?”

But she was already striding past him to the other end of the room. “You stay there, and on three, we’ll use the Force to pull the beams apart to make an opening.”

“Won’t that make a bigger mess as it collapses?”

“We’ll be careful. Are you ready?”

“I don’t think—”

But she didn’t take any time to listen to his arguments. “One…two…three!” And she pulled with all the Force strength she could muster.

Across the room she could see he was doing the same, matching her pull, and she was thankful he was helping despite his misgivings.

Slowly, the ceiling began to buckle, a crack widening with every passing moment. Pieces of the structure began to fall in larger chunks, but Rey continued to pull.

At last, daylight shone like the light at the end of a tunnel, a pin hole growing steadily larger until they could fit through it. The room was now a mess of rubble and dust, stinging her eyes and clogging her lungs, but they could jump out. They could be free.

Ben reappeared at her side, and before she could react, he scooped her up and Force jumped them out. They landed hard, Rey already twisting to ask what he thought he was doing when a coughing fit shook her and the sound of a safety being released drove all other thought from her mind.

It took Chewie longer than he would admit to realize that Rey and Ben were _not_ clear and he had just unintentionally blown up the building they were still inside.

He hurried around the perimeter of the base, scanning for any sign of the two, when a sound that was not an explosion caught his attention. It was the sound of collapsing steel and ferrocrete, which was not remarkable in itself, given what had just occurred. But it was on the other side of the base, not too far from the exit, and on the surface rather than underground where the workshop was.

Hope blossomed in his mind.

Distantly, he could see a figure leap high and clear the edge of the base. But he could also see the last thing they needed right now: more troopers. He tried to get a clear shot but couldn’t at this distance.

Moving as quickly as he dared, Chewie worked his way around the vehicles and other machinery outside the base.

Then he stepped out from behind a large speeder and started firing.

The troopers hit with the bowcaster bolts went flying, then the plasma cannon bumped against his elbow and he realized he’d almost forgotten about it. Nothing like testing out a new weapon!

With a delightful roar, the cannon shot three rapid-fire pulses of white-hot energy at the remaining few troopers. One of them was unfortunate enough to be standing behind another, and the blast that cut through the first wasted no time tearing through the second.

In a matter of moments, the squad was down, and Rey and Ben were standing. Rey was grinning ear-to-ear.

“That was amazing! Where can I get one of those?”

But Ben was quick to keep them on track. “I know someone heard that, not to mention the base explosion. We need to get out of here in case more troopers arrive.”

The man watched the understanding dawn in their eyes, and each nodded and took off towards the city.

Rey realized in less than a few meters that the injury to her hip was going to be a lot more trouble than she’d given it credit for. She fell behind, still running, but unable to keep pace with the long-legged Ben and even longer-legged Chewbacca.

Of course, Ben noticed. Because of course he did. He slowed to match her speed, looked her once over, and immediately ducked to pick her up. She pushed his hands away. “I can do it myself.”

“I know, but you don’t have to.”

She shook her head and kept moving as quickly as she was able.

Suddenly, a furry arm wrapped around each of them, and they found themselves each slung over a shoulder of an exasperated Wookiee. They were taking too long, apparently. He let out a growl to remind them he was not getting caught for this, not this time.

It wasn’t a moment too soon, as Stormtroopers appeared from behind a building to chase them.

“Here, shoot!” Rey shouted, and pulled out the blaster she’d taken earlier.

They fired wildly at the troopers. It wasn’t easy to aim straight when draped over the shoulder of a sprinting Wookiee, but she did her best. A few troopers fell to their blaster fire but it wasn’t enough to stop them.

“Can you dodge them?” she called back to Chewie, and he grunted an affirmative and started weaving, making quick turns behind buildings and through alleyways.

He cut an especially sharp corner and ducked into an arched doorway, pausing to listen if they were still being followed.

Several troopers ran past their hiding place without stopping. “They went this way,” Rey heard one of them direct, even as the sound was fading into the distance.

Her heartbeat was loud in her ears, but after another few minutes, no other noise came from their pursuers. Cautiously, they emerged. Chewie set Rey and Ben back to the ground, and together the trio wound their way to Ben’s apartment.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gets a little angsty here, but hey, it's Ben Solo, what do you expect?

Chewbacca had left, stating vaguely he needed supplies from the _Falcon_ , but that had been over two hours ago and Ben suspected the Wookiee was actually making himself comfortable with a few bottles. He didn’t fault him for it, though; after the day they’d had, he could do with a drink himself.

His anxiety spiked at the sharp pounding on the door and he moved instinctively for his lightsaber, but Rey shook her head. With an effortless wave, she informed the Stormtroopers on patrol in no uncertain terms that they had every right to be there and had nothing to do with any explosion. He was impressed and a little disconcerted how natural the mind trick came to her.

Pushing these thoughts aside, he busied himself in the small kitchen, starting to prepare their evening meal.

It wasn’t long before she moseyed in, offering to help. There wasn’t much space, but he liked being by her, so naturally, he accepted her offer.

Turned out she was hopeless in the kitchen. But what she lacked in skill she made up in enthusiasm, so he set her to cutting vegetables since it didn’t matter what they looked like and there were no flavors to mix or temperatures to control.

“There’s something on your mind,” she said after a long silence.

He frowned. Did she have to read him so well? He murmured a non-committal answer and kept his eyes focused on the bubbling liquid on the thermapad.

In his peripheral he saw her turn, the knife gripped casually in her hand but dangerously close to his arm as she gestured. “Don’t give me that. I can sense the conflict in you.”

“Alright, fine.” He gently pushed the hand holding the knife to a safer distance. “I lost control today. With the Captain. I didn’t just want to kill him, I wanted to make it hurt.” 

“But you regained that control, found that Balance again.” His hand was still lightly clasped over hers and she covered it with her other hand. “Powerful light, powerful darkness. You can’t have one without the other.”

He withdrew his hand and stepped back. “I shouldn’t have asked you to come.”

She flinched as though he’d physically struck her. “What? Why?”

He let his gaze linger on her hip in response, where he’d healed her not long before.

Her eyes flashed. “I knew what I was getting into when I came.” She placed the knife back on the counter before closing the distance between them again. “When you asked me to join you before,” and she saw his mouth quirk up at the memory, “you didn’t want someone to just look pretty by your side.”

“Though you do that quite well,” came a quick response, and she couldn’t help but smile.

“Did you not want an equal?” she pressed. “I can handle myself. Besides,” she shrugged, “you need me.”

The humor faded from his face and he stared at her a long moment before replying. “Yes, I do.”

He started to turn away, back to the meal, back away from this vulnerability, but she decided not to let him this time. Catching the front of his shirt, she pulled him close and kissed him.

His breath hitched in surprise, but the tension quickly melted as his arm circled her waist while his other hand cupped her face.

And when he determined it was too much effort to lean over to reach her, he lifted her easily and set her on the counter. This time, she was the one to make a startled noise, but he could feel her smile against his mouth as both hands moved to tangle in his hair.

The acrid smell of burnt food slowly worked its way in to assault his senses and he pulled away sharply to find smoke filling the tiny room from their now-blackened evening meal.

“Oops.” His face reddened with embarrassment. He had been so distracted he’d forgotten all about the meal they were trying to prepare.

But Rey just laughed. “We still have the vegetables, at least.” The ones that hadn’t been pushed onto the floor by making the counter her seat. “And I’m sure we can rummage something else up.”

At that moment, the door to the apartment slammed open to admit Chewie, only swaying slightly. He lumbered into the kitchen without looking at either of them, opened the cooling chamber, didn’t seem to find what he was searching for, and walked out.

Rey knew her face was flaming, and she could see the flush creep up Ben’s neck as they watched the Wookiee go, but thankfully Chewie hadn’t seen the blush or chosen to comment on her peculiar choice of chair. It was good she’d stayed where she was, as there was no way the kitchen would have allowed three persons side-by-side.

They could hear him rooting around in his bag before he collapsed on a sleeping pallet. But there would be no more romantic overtures tonight; Rey felt as though she’d been doused in ice water at the Wookiee’s return.

Hours later, after the burnt food had been discarded and something passably edible had been consumed, and long after Ben had bid her good night, Rey lay on the couch in the common area, a borrowed blanket tucked up to her chin.

She couldn’t sleep. Try as she might. She tossed and turned, facing the door, facing the couch, on her back, on her stomach.

She told herself it was the Wookiee’s nearby snores that could wake the dead, rather than the kiss earlier that evening echoing through her mind and the man sleeping in the adjacent bedroom. Cursing her own sentiment, she flipped to face the back of the couch.

A few minutes into counting bloggins—again—a shuffling noise behind her made her freeze. Cautiously, she peeked over her shoulder to find Ben, barefoot, standing in the doorway to the apartment.

“Ben?” she whispered in confusion, and his head whipped around, eyes wide.

He exhaled, bit his bottom lip. “Rey. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“You didn’t. What are you doing?”

“Just checking the security.”

“At two in the morning?”

He looked at her like it was the most natural thing in the galaxy. “No better time.”

“Seriously?”

“I was awake anyway,” he muttered, then instantly seemed to regret it. “I should let you get back to sleep.” He started to walk back to his room, but she stopped him with a light touch.

“I wasn’t sleeping. Here, sit.” She struggled to sit up and shifted to one end of the couch, patting the seat beside her.

Shadowed eyes stared at her for a beat before he grudgingly obeyed. Elbows on his knees, back to her. He was distancing.

“What happened?”

“With what?”

“In the last three hours to make you like this?”

He spared her a sidewise glance before fixing his eyes on a non-existent point on the wall. “Nothing.”

“It doesn’t seem like nothing.”

“I had a bad dream, alright?” He waved a hand. A dismissal. Abruptly, he faced her, eyes dark in challenge. “Nothing new.” But behind the defiance, she could see hurt and exhaustion.

“When’s the last time you slept?”

He let out a short, humorless laugh and turned away again. “I don’t remember.”

“What do you dream about, Ben Solo?” she asked in a low voice after a lengthy deliberation. He didn’t seem to want to talk about it, but she felt it was a thing that needed to be discussed.

He sat quietly for so long she thought he wasn’t going to answer. Then, a single whispered word, “Death.”

Running a hand through his hair, Ben let it fall like a curtain between his face and hers before he spoke again. “Killing my father, killing Lor San Tekka, killing Luke. Memories, mostly, but not all.” He sucked in a sharp breath and continued, unbidden, the awful words pouring out of him now. “Killing my mother, Luke killing me, Snoke killing you.” He paused to regain control of his voice, then allowed his eyes to finally meet hers. “Me killing you.”

He wasn’t sure what he expected to find in her eyes, but to find them also full of tears frightened him. At the reminder of all the blood on his hands, would she realize he’d never really be innocent Ben again? Would she walk away, leave him to figure it out on his own?

If she left, he wasn’t sure how much longer he could go.

She had placed her hand on his shoulder, started to say, “I’m sorry,” when suddenly she drew back. “Is that what all this is about?”

He had a sinking feeling she’d sensed his last despairing thoughts, but the attitude shift was too jarring. “What?”

“This suicidal…crusade that you’ve been on, trying to atone for your mistakes. Are you trying to kill yourself?”

“I am not trying to kill myself.” He kept his tone mild.

“No, you’ll have someone else do it for you.” She sat straight up in a flash of anger. “Running headlong into a heavily armed base with nothing but your wits and the Force to save you. See how many you can bring down with you before you go. How long? How long until a blaster bolt hits the mark, or there are too many troopers?” But just as quickly as the anger came, it evaporated. She sank back against the couch. “This is why you didn’t want me to come.”

“I did want you to come.”

“Someone has to keep you alive. Why are you pushing yourself to exhaustion with this mission?”

He shrugged. “If I do enough good, maybe then I can go back. Prove I’m not the monster everyone thinks I am.”

With a light touch on his cheek, she turned his face to hers. “You are not a monster. No, look at me. You are not a monster. Say it.”

“You are not a monster,” he repeated diligently, and felt the tug of a smile at the corner of his mouth.

It was worth it for the eye roll, and even more so when she scooted closer and rested her head on his shoulder. “I just don’t want to lose you,” she murmured. A yawn shuddered through her frame. “What time is it?”

He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Late enough. You should get some rest.” He cupped her head to lay her down on the couch as he moved to leave.

But her hand on his arm stopped him. “Stay…” she whispered, and he froze for a split second as his brain short-circuited, before tentatively placing his arm around her shoulders and cradling her against his chest. He shifted so he was more level and stared up at the ceiling.

_Stay_.

In a few minutes, her breathing deepened, and he knew she was asleep.

_Stay_ , the whisper as loud as a roar.


	8. Chapter 8

Light filtered in through the small window and fell across Ben’s eyes as he stirred. It took him a moment to remember where he was, and why his neck was sore from spending the night on the couch, but everything came back in a flash: the kiss, the conversation, the plea.

He glanced down at Rey’s sleeping form and realized with growing awareness that besides the stiffness this morning, the last several hours had been the most peaceful sleep he’d had since he could remember. No nightmares, not even any dreams he could recall that had interrupted his rest.

Carefully, he edged out around Rey and moved a pillow to support her, then wandered into the kitchen to find Chewbacca already awake. They each muttered a perfunctory “good morning,” but Ben was prepared to take his morning meal elsewhere when the Wookiee uttered an unexpected apology.

The man shot him a puzzled look. “For what?”

Chewie let out a growl that sounded like a moan.

“No, that was not your fault,” Ben said with a wry smile. “We weren’t at the rendezvous point. And we’ll have a better comlink situation next time.”

Chewbacca stared at this young man, so like his father, so unlike the child he remembered. He’d been avoiding him while they were here on Corellia, it was true. It was difficult to see his parents in him, knowing what he knew, what he saw.

But the kid was finally trying to make his own way through the Light again. It was as Han always said, sometimes the right path takes some twists and turns. It isn’t a straight shot all the time.

He realized, not for the first time, that he missed being Uncle Chewie to Han’s boy.

Maybe, just maybe, they could find that again.

Ben had started to walk away, not privy to the Wookiee’s thoughts, seeming to think his silence meant the conversation was over. Chewie knew he had to say something before the boy got too far, and called out his name.

The man froze and glanced over his shoulder, expression still shadowed with uncertainty.

He rumbled his assurance that Han would be proud of what Ben was doing.

Tears pooled in the young man’s eyes as his gaze hit the floor. “I hope so. I’ve done plenty of things he wasn’t proud of.”

Did he know how much Han loved him? Did he have any idea? He tried his best to convey it but knew his words fell short.

Ben still understood. “Yeah.” He smiled through the tears. “I know.”

On impulse, Chewbacca stood and opened his arms to him. Ben only hesitated an instant before he rushed into the Wookiee’s embrace, where he had sought comfort dozens of times.

Oh, how he’d missed this, and said so.

“I missed you too,” came muffled against the Wookiee’s chest, and Chewie squeezed him just a bit harder, the way he used to when Ben was a boy.

After another moment, he rattled off a question.

Ben stepped back, grinning. “I had some ideas about that.” He went to retrieve his maps and spread them on the table in the common area, still trying to stay quiet for Rey’s sake. “I think our next target should be near here, obviously not every planet has a First Order base, so we’ll need to do a little research to find the one to hit. You’re in?”

Chewie warbled an affirmative, and Ben’s smile stretched further.

“Great. We’ll start work soon. I think—” His train of thought derailed as two small arms wrapped around his waist and a tousled brown head pressed into his shoulder. He glanced down to find Rey, draped in the blanket, looking up at him with a sleepy smile. “Good morning.”

“Good morning,” she mumbled. She peeked around him to see the maps. “What’s all this?”

“Starting plans for the next attack.”

She let go and moved to the side. “So you aren’t stopping?”

He met her gaze levelly. “I’m not stopping. This is what I am supposed to do. I hope you’ll come with.”

“About that…” She took a deep breath. “We need to talk.”

His blood ran cold and he must have responded, but he didn’t remember what he said.

Chewie gave him a look that said _you’re on your own_ , and disappeared.

“So, what’s up?” Ben tried to keep his voice casual, realizing belatedly he almost certainly failed.

“If we’re going to be traveling together, we need to figure out whatever _this_ is.” She made a vague gesture in the air between them.

The vise around his lungs started to loosen.

“If you aren’t ready for a relationship, that’s fine,” she was still talking and he struggled to listen over the thunder in his ears, “I just think we should be honest about our expectations.”

“Then you are coming?” he asked weakly.

Her eyes widened and a blush dusted her cheeks. “Yes! I’m sorry, was that not clear?”

“It was not.” He let out a nervous laugh at the tension release, finally able to breathe properly again.

“Yes, I’m coming. If only because I’m the only sane one here, apparently.” But there was no real heat behind her words.

“I don’t know, Chewie seems pretty sane.” She rolled her eyes at him, and he hid a smile. “So, _this_.” He mimicked her hand gesture from earlier. “What are your expectations?”

“No, you start. What are yours?” Apparently, even though she had started this conversation, she wanted to hear his side first.

He shrugged. “I don’t really have…” He trailed off when her expression told him that was not what she wanted to hear. He mentally backpedaled and tried a different tack. “Whatever this is, whatever we do, that is entirely up to you.”

“Why up to me? You have a choice in this too, you know. If this isn’t what you want—what?”

He was shaking his head as amusement crinkled around his eyes. “I thought you knew.”

“Knew what?”

“This is always what I’ve wanted. You and me, together. Side by side.”

“As your empress.” Her tone was flat.

“As my partner!”

“Romantic partner?”

His heart slammed into double time, though he should have anticipated this. She had initiated the kiss yesterday as well as on Exegol. She was here, with him. But he didn’t dare hope.

“I—” The longer it took him to answer, the more her face fell.

“I see.”

“No,” he managed, throat tight. “I didn’t—think—I—that you would want—a—” His ears were burning in a fire that spread over his face and into his chest.

But Rey was smiling again, practically beaming, so maybe he hadn’t messed this up that badly.

“The kiss…yesterday…I thought it was good,” he finished lamely.

“So did I.”

“Oh, good. Good, good.” He tried to stick his hands in his pockets, realized he was still in his pajamas which didn’t have pockets, and settled for crossing his arms over his chest.

She was still grinning. If he smiled that much, his cheeks would be sore.

“So we’re going to try this, then?”

“Yeah. Yeah, we’re going to try it.”

And he moved to lace his fingers through hers.

When Chewie returned an hour later, he found them on the couch, hand-in-hand, chatting companionably. Rey with her legs tucked under her. Ben with his legs outstretched. Two mugs of caf were cooling on the floor.

They both looked up at his entrance.

“Good, you’re back!” Rey greeted enthusiastically. “Now we can start planning, right?”

It was another few days before they found their next target and had enough details straight to start. Too-long days consisting of hours of researching and disassembling their previous attack to find what worked and what didn’t, and too little rest that should have been well-earned.

But just as the trio was getting ready to leave, Rey’s comlink came alive, blinking and beeping wildly.

“I’ll just—” She pointed off to the side and Ben nodded.

From Finn. Flagged urgent. She accepted the call with a knot in her stomach.

“Hi, Finn.”

“Hey! It’s Poe, actually.”

“Poe? Where’s Finn? Is he okay?”

“Uh, no, not exactly. Look, Rey, we really need you to come back. The First Order—” Something crashed in the background and he uttered a low oath. “The First Order found us, Rey.”

“Found you? What’s going on?”

“We ran into a group of scouts a day ago but the transmission was out before we could stop it. The fleet is on its way.”

“I’m coming, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Hurry!” And the line went dead.


	9. Chapter 9

“That was the Resistance,” Rey said in answer to the questioning looks as she re-entered the room. The conversation had left her shaken and jittery, and the rushed response to her concern for Finn only made it worse. “They’re under attack, they need our help!”

Ben scoffed. “ _Our_ help?”

“Yes!”

“I’m pretty sure they don’t need my help.”

“We need all the help we can get!” When he only frowned, she pushed on. “This is your chance to show them you’ve changed!”

“Have I?” he asked bitterly, and before she could respond, he mumbled, “They’d kill me on sight.”

“I won’t let them.”

“You can’t make that promise. Besides, I already told you. I can’t go back. At least, not yet.”

Her face hardened. “Fine. But I have to go, and I don’t have time to argue with you.” She started to turn away, then paused. “They’re also my friends, my family,” she said quietly. “I won’t let them die.”

She spun towards Chewie. “Are you coming or staying?”

He roared, and she nodded. Then the two of them walked out, leaving Ben alone.

Again.

Rey was sorry to leave, but she kept her focus forward as she programmed the coordinates for Ajan Kloss. Ben had to make the choice on his own. No one, least of all her, could make it for him.

They arrived to find First Order ships just starting to appear out of hyperspace.

While the First Order wasn’t at their full strength with the losses they’d been taking over the last several months, they still knew how to pack a punch. Two Destroyers stood in the way of life and freedom, each probably bursting with TIE fighters.

She radioed the Resistance to see if she should make planetfall. An immediate response: no, definitely not, and shoot down any TIEs she saw.

“Easy enough,” she muttered, and handed the controls to Chewbacca as she ducked down to the cannons.

That’s when the party began.

TIE fighters streaming out of the Destroyers were coming from all sides, and it was all Rey could do to keep a constant swivel and finger on the trigger. More than once, she wished Ben was there, if only because the _Falcon_ was intended for a larger crew and two people on guns would make this job _so_ much easier.

En masse, Resistance pilots appeared, along with several other ships from people who had come for the Battle of Exegol and stayed to help.

She heard Poe’s familiar _whoop_ as he careened through the void, shooting anything First Order that moved, pulling daring stunts and last-minute breaks. She heard the chatter of dozens of pilots shouting “on your left!” or “there’s one behind you!” or “cover me!” But she didn’t realize how much she’d missed Leia’s calm directives and leadership presence until an unknown voice came spouting orders over the open channel. And while she tried her best to listen, well, she’d never been good at following orders.

The unknown voice wanted them to keep to a formation, to stay on the defensive with the priority being to protect the base and the heavy artillery ships on their way.

Defensive was all good and well. But these wastoids had threatened her friends and pulled her from Ben’s side. Defensive wasn’t going to end this battle quickly.

“Thinking what I’m thinking?” she called up to Chewie, and grinned at the answering roars. “Let’s do it.”

He managed to put on more speed, sending them spiraling through the waves of TIEs, while she kept up a steady stream of blaster fire that scattered the fighters.

They were headed for the Destroyers. Specifically, the left one.

Poe saw their plan as they beelined towards the giant ship and flanked them to the right, giving her a salute as she glanced over to his X-wing. She nodded in response and smiled as she heard him giving instructions to other pilots crazy enough to help.

“We can keep close enough to the surface that the turrets will be in danger of hitting their own fighters. Then, once we’ve cleared a spot, the Y-wings can bring the torpedoes. It’s only two Destroyers, guys, we can do this!”

And with that impassioned speech, he streaked forward.

Predictably, the TIEs followed them, and as they weaved between the turrets, Rey was delighted to see their plan was working; the turrets weren’t willing to give full firepower to avoid hitting their own men.

She divided her attention between taking out the turrets and pivoting to fire on their tail of fighters. One after another they fell, dropping to the surface of the Destroyer and erupting in smoke and flame. At the same time, she cringed as she heard the voices of her friends cry out and end in deafening silence. This battle would cost them. She only hoped the damage they inflicted would be worth it.

Eventually, they managed to take out enough turrets to clear a prime spot for the Y-wings, and Rey told Chewie to wheel around so they could best protect the ships. In came the fleet of Y-wings, equipped with both proton and armor-piercing torpedoes to cripple this monstrosity.

As one, the TIEs turned from targeting the small fighters to gunning down the Y-wings.

Rey set her jaw and narrowed her focus. The Y-wings had to get through. They spun up and around to be in between the fighters and the Resistance ships, guns blazing all the way.

Two ships moved past her to fire proton torpedoes, and she could see the electricity crackle indicating they’d disabled the Destroyer’s shields. Now they just needed to make sure the rest could loose their armor-piercing stock.

Five more TIEs down, and the Y-wings could continue the attack.

A few moments later, they were rewarded with a chain of explosions that ripped through the Destroyer.

But the TIEs were relentless as they worked to make sure the Y-wings couldn’t repeat their victory on the next Destroyer. Rey’s triumph morphed into horror as one ship, then two fell from the sky in flames. “There’s still too many of them! We need to take out more TIEs before we can do anything else!”

A black A-wing suddenly appeared out of hyperspace, shooting wildly and decimating the few TIEs that had gathered around one of the torpedo ships, then flipped into a nauseating spiral, firing on the next group of fighters around another Y-wing.

She knew that ship. More than that, she knew that bright, warm presence in her mind.

Ben.

Once finished with the nearby TIEs, he sped towards the second Destroyer.

“Hey, who’s that guy? Not a bad pilot.”

She heard Poe’s voice over the communicator and grinned. “A friend.”

Static crackled on the _Falcon_ ’s secondary communication channel, followed by a familiar voice. “Rey, I need you to buy me some time. I have an idea.”

To her surprise, it was Chewie who responded that they would back him up, and the _Falcon_ banked sharply to follow Ben’s ship.

Ben took a steadying breath as he maneuvered around TIE fighters and the debris from those he destroyed. He had a plan. He only hoped it would work. It was a long shot, after all, but he thought his father would be proud.

He whipped around behind the command deck of the Destroyer, did a quick 180, and latched on using the landing claw on the underside of his fighter. Rey and Chewie had done their part to take out any TIEs trying to follow him. Now it was his turn to try to make a difference in this fight.

No doubt the First Order had changed the security codes after he’d disappeared and then re-appeared as a traitor. But he knew one or two codes that were so infrequently used, hopefully no one would have thought or even known to change them. One of those might give them the opening they needed.

He took another deep, meditative breath and visualized the control panel in his mind. There was no time for him to sneak aboard to physically enter the code; he was just going to have to trust the Force to work with him.

Closing his eyes, he entered the sequence into the air, sensing it was also being entered inside the Destroyer, and slowly released the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.

The immediate jolt to his ship shouted success, and he grinned. They had maybe a few minutes before the First Order figured out what had happened and entered the bypass code to undo his maintenance shutdown.

Enough time to drop the torpedo he’d been saving down the engine shaft, which would be blissfully devoid of the energy typically coursing through it.

He disengaged the landing claw as the huge ship started to drift towards the planet below and hailed the _Falcon_ again. “Rey, Chewie, the ship is disabled, but it won’t be for long. Don’t let anyone blow up the command deck. And keep clear.” He cut off the link before he would be faced with their questions.

The familiar blue glow of the engines was dark. His plan might just work.

He skirted around the edge of the falling Destroyer and fired a single, heat-seeking torpedo into the main engine turbine. In the next moment, the lights in the Destroyer flickered and returned as the ship leveled. The bypass code had been entered.

If the Force was with him, if he had any luck at all…

Rey watched in horror and fascination as the Destroyer they had been peppering with cannon fire erupted in a ball of flame. Shouts of elation filled the Resistance communication channel.

“Did you see that!”

“I know I didn’t take that shot!”

“It was that new guy! I saw him behind the Destroyer!”

The other pilots were excitedly talking over one another in the relief following the explosion.

“Now all we need is to clear out the rest of the TIEs!” She heard Poe’s grin in his tone. “Let’s clean this up in time for dinner!”

She shot down another TIE and tried to reach Ben. She had a suspicion this had a lot to do with his cryptic direction not to blow up the command deck.

“Ben! What did you do?”

“Seeking torpedo, activated when the engines restarted.” His response was clipped and punctuated by what sounded like a grunt. “Blew up the reactor.” Definitely a grunt this time.

“Everything alright?”

In response, she saw his ship streak by, followed by no fewer than three TIE fighters. “Fine. Just picked up some unwanted company.” He dipped into a roll to shake them and spun around to return fire.

One by one, TIEs dropped, the fireworks a distraction from the losses on both sides. At long last, the black was empty of red and green lasers, the only obstacles the fragments of the First Order attack.

They’d done it!

Rey hailed Ben again. “We’re heading down to the base. See you planetside!”

“Yeah,” he murmured. He stared at the blinking lights on his dash. The ship had held her own but the hits from the fighters had taken their toll. Without an astromech droid to mitigate the damage, it was a mercy he’d lasted this long. Nav systems offline. Hyperdrive leaking. Weapons system damaged. He would have to land whether he wanted to or not.

He waited until he saw the _Falcon_ turn towards the planet, then slowly followed her to the base.


	10. Chapter 10

Rey was down the gangplank as soon as the ship landed, running towards the dark-skinned man with his arm in a sling. “Finn!” She gave him a half-hug, avoiding his injured arm. “What happened?”

“I was part of the crew that found the scouts. They got in a lucky shot,” he said wryly with a crooked grin. “But I’m okay.”

Her response was interrupted by Poe’s arrival. “Rey! Thanks for coming. That was some flying out there!” He raised his eyebrows and jerked his head. “Who’s your friend?”

Rey spun and saw Ben, standing awkwardly by the A-wing, his hands in his pockets. He was shifting his weight uncomfortably as his gaze scanned the crowd. Her eyes lit up and she rushed to give him a hug, missing Finn’s glare of suspicion.

“What changed your mind?”

Ben smiled down at her. “I figured it was time to stop running.”

Her answering smile was radiant and reminded him that whatever happened next, being with her was worth it.

She grabbed him by the arm and dragged him over to Poe and Finn.

“This is Ben,” she told them happily.

“Ben, huh?” Finn’s eyes narrowed.

Ben rubbed a hand on the back of his neck and tried for a smile. “Finn, right?”

“That’s a lot better than what you called me last time.”

Poe was looking between the two of them, watching this exchange. “You know each other?”

“Yeah, I know him.” Finn’s tone was low, his eyes hard.

“He was quite the pilot out there today.” Poe’s eyes were still shining with victory, either missing Finn’s hostile tone or choosing to ignore it. “Where’d you learn to fly like that?”

Ben continued to examine the ground and finally mumbled, “My dad.”

“Before you killed him?” Finn spat.

“Finn!” Rey’s glare shot daggers, but Ben said nothing and didn’t look up.

“I thought you were dead,” Finn continued, not bothering to hide the derision in his tone. He moved his accusing gaze to Rey. “You told us he was dead.”

“No, I told you Kylo Ren was dead,” she hissed. “And keep your voice down.”

Ben glanced at her as she said this, then looked away to see the crowd, still celebrating, oblivious to their discussion. “I knew this was a bad idea.”

“Wait, Kylo Ren?” Poe’s easy grin dropped and his face turned from admiration to disgust.

“Not any more. He saved our lives out there today, and he’s saved mine before. You and all the other pilots know what he did to that Destroyer! He helped me defeat Palpatine. He killed Snoke. He’s been blowing up First Order bases _on his own_ for five months. He is on our side!”

Two mouths snapped shut in shocked silence.

The same two mouths dropped open a minute later as a loud roar announced Chewie’s arrival and the Wookiee wrapped Ben into a hug. He was congratulating Ben on his work and planning, along with some subtle jibes that showing up to help wasn’t so hard.

Ben laughed tightly and swept a hand across the scene. “Fun isn’t over yet.”

Chewie’s acceptance seemed to thaw the tension ever so slightly, but both men were still scowling at the newcomer.

“He might have done good work today, but that doesn’t change what he’s done before,” Finn finally said.

Rey opened her mouth to defend him again, but Ben smoothly cut her off. “No, it doesn’t. I know I have more than my fair share of things I regret. What matters is if you learn from it and try to become better.” He shifted to address Finn directly. “Like you did. Your defection caused quite a stir in the First Order. I didn’t understand it at the time, but I get it now.” Sighing, he ran a hand over his face. “I’m sorry for what I did to you, both of you. I don’t want to be that man anymore, and Force willing, I won’t be. Now, how can I help your cause?”

Rey couldn’t help a chuckle at the surprised and confused expressions on her friends’ faces.

“Never thought I would get an apology from Kylo Ren,” Poe muttered, and Finn agreed.

“First time for everything,” Ben deadpanned. “I’m happy to give you information on First Order strategy, base locations, weapons, ships… Anything you want to know.”

“Let’s talk inside.” Poe waved his hand in the direction of the base. “I have a feeling we’ll want to write some stuff down. This does not mean,” he pivoted to point a finger in Ben’s face, “that I trust you. But I don’t have the energy to argue with Rey _and_ Chewie, so… we’ll take what you have. For now.” He turned his back on them and took long strides towards the base entrance, Chewie and Finn trailing behind.

Rey took Ben’s hand and he gave her a slow smile, then cupped the back of her neck and brought his mouth to hers in a brief but meaningful kiss. Stars danced in her eyes when he pulled back a moment later, and he thought he had never seen anything so beautiful. He had made the right decision.

Together. Side by side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A huge thanks to my beta, jnelly! And thank you all for every comment and kudos! The ending of Rise of Skywalker was so bad it got me writing again.. This is my first Reylo story but by far not my last. Hope to see you on the next one!


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